Welcome to Nontraditional Careers

To help students recognize all career opportunities, unrestricted by gender, social or cultural expectations. We strive to improve the achievement of students and special populations in secondary programs that lead to high skill, high-wage, and high-demand careers. A nontraditional career is any occupation in which women or men comprise 25 percent or less of its total employment.

Overview

Nontraditional Program Goals:

Invite students to become aware of the vast array of career opportunities through career fairs, internships, speakers, field studies, and job shadows related to career opportunities offered in the school by Work-Based Learning coordinators.

Develop opportunities and resources for students to learn about themselves and what abilities and aptitudes they have for career opportunities.

Invite individuals who work in nontraditional careers to participate in school presentations, so they are visible in the school to encourage students’ interest in nontraditional careers.

Show students the financial opportunities in high-skill and high-demand careers.

Help students understand the importance of achieving job satisfaction in a career for which they have interest and ability.

Program Delivery Components

Nontraditional experiences are integrated in all levels of education. Career awareness, exploration, orientation, and preparation activities are coordinated with school-based learning activities.

AwarenessIn grades K-6, students are introduced to careers through career days (such as tool days, construction days, and vehicle days), workplace visits, job shadowing, and guest speakers.

ExplorationIn grade 7, students explore career options in the CTE Introduction class. In grade 8, students also explore career options through career fairs, field studies, job shadowing, and guest speakers.

OrientationIn grades 9-10, students become oriented with a specific career(s) through career fairs, job shadowing, and guest speakers.

PreparationIn grades 11-12, students may prepare for a career through internships and apprenticeships. The Work-Based Learning course is available to students to further these experiences.

Program Results/Funding

Federal Perkins IV funding requires states to address the needs of special populations, non-discrimination, and nontraditional preparation as a part of the State Plan.

Our vision is to help students become aware of all career opportunities, including nontraditional career opportunities, while encouraging them to recognize their personal skills and abilities. With this recognition, students may look “outside the box” and consider the full range of career options available to them, unconstrained by traditional gender role stereotyping. Applying the skills and recognizing abilities and interests gained in the secondary school programs, students may achieve a high level of job satisfaction as they pursue postsecondary education and job opportunities.

Improvement Strategies

All students need to be encouraged and supported. Whether the student is male or female, there will be many opportunities to promote student success in nontraditional careers.

Awareness...Expanding Career Possibilities

Attitudes about which jobs are appropriate for women, and which jobs are appropriate for men are the result of tradition and socialization. The vast majority of job requirements are unrelated to gender.

Recruitment...Challenging Students to be Different

A critical step in the recruitment of women and men into nontraditional careers is awareness about gender equity issues. Gender equity means ensuring fair treatment to both genders and the elimination of career stereotypes and bias. This requires a thorough examination of recruitment and instructional materials and an environment this is bias free. It is important to remember that all learners have the ability to perform well in all academic and technical areas required in nontraditional work.

Retention...Meeting Student Needs

CTE Pathways

The High School to College and Career Pathways initiative helps match education and workplace needs. Through partnerships among post-secondary institutions, school districts, business, and industry, Pathways identify and group courses within CTE areas of study that offer students depth of knowledge and skill, linked with specific postsecondary programs culminating in degrees, certificates, and licenses.

Quality Indicators

Nontraditional fields refers to those occupations or fields of work, including careers in computer science, technology and other current and emerging high skill occupation for which individuals from one gender comprise less than 25 percent of the individuals employed in that occupation. The intent of Perkins is to help more women achieve economic security by creating opportunities and encouraging them to pursue more high skill, high wage and high demand occupations.

Secondary Performance Indicators

4S1: Nontraditional ParticipationPercent of students enrolled in nontraditional programs.

4S2: Nontraditional CompletionPercent of students completing at least 3 courses in nontraditional programs.

ATC Performance Indicators

4A1: Nontraditional ParticipationPercent of adult students enrolled in nontraditional programs.

4A2: Nontraditional CompletionPercent of adult students who complete nontraditional programs.

College/University Performance Indicators

4P1: Nontraditional ParticipationPercent of students enrolled in programs that are nontraditional for their gender.

4P2: Nontraditional CompletionPercent of nontraditional students completing programs that are nontraditional for their gender.

Society of Women Engineers (SWE) A not-for-profit educational and service organization that empowers women to succeed and advance in the field of engineering, and to be recognized for their life-changing contributions as engineers and leaders.

Contact Us

Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Statement

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) is committed to making schools.utah.gov compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
At this time we recognize that not all areas of our website are ADA compliant.
We are currently in the process of redesigning and creating new website content to be compliant with the W3C Level Two guidelines.

The Utah State Board of Education does not endorse and is not responsible for content on external websites linked from this page.